posted 06-10-2014 12:42 PM
Gertrude S. Twichell is one of our favorite Boston metalsmiths. Her work is fairly hard to find, but it does turn up from time to time. A copper and enamel box of hers sold at auction for over $10,000 in 2007.

The most common forms of hers are small enameled bowls. Here's a set of salts and spoons:

Her mark is her name or initials scratched in:

Here's a 1930 box of hers. Interestingly, the caption says the metalwork was by Milan G. Twichell, her father, who taught at the Worcester Boys Trade School.

Here's an unrelated sketch by him from a 1918 publication:

According to an ARK Antiques catalog, Twichell "was born around 1889… She enrolled at Massachusetts Normal Art School in 1916, where she studied with Martin Laurin. She became a Craftsman member of the Society of Arts & Crafts of Boston in 1916, and was elevated to Master craftsman in 1927. Although exhibition records indicate that she made jewelry in addition to enamel-decorated silver and copper objects, we are not aware of any of her jewelry extant."

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